Website Design Flaws That Are Killing Your Engagement

It’s 2016—you don’t need to be sold on the necessity of a website for your business. What you need is a website that’s better than the other guy’s. Good is the enemy of great, and the market is vicious—from Tokyo to Edmonton, website design can make or break a business. Step up your website design game by checking your content against these 5 deadly problems compiled by Edmonton’s premier web design specialists. Fix what’s broken.

Bad (or No) Strategy

Websites need a plan. Who is your audience? What do they want? How will they interact with your site?

You need to visualize and plot how you want to tell your story, without forgetting your purpose—have a narrative for your content (or at least a logical way to put it all together) and remember to put the user first. Think like a visitor to your site; what content should you put up and how should it be arranged?

You wouldn’t build a house without blueprints—don’t design a website without a strategy.

No Mobile Support

Mobile accessibility matters. According to the Pew Research Center, as of 2014, 90% of American adults own a cellphone and 42% own some kind of tablet computer. Your website can’t be built solely around desktop users—it needs to be agile and scale-able for a variety of devices. How often have you looked up a restaurant’s menu on your iPad, or the contact number for a towing service on your phone?

No one wants to fumble around with a website they can’t read on the go.

No Transparency

Who are you? A website is your business’ chance to make a killer first impression with potential customers, so let them know who they’re dealing with. Highlight your staff, highlight your managers—and highlight how to get a hold of them. You wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to introduce yourself to a potential customer in person, so why would you do it online?

Selling yourself is as important as selling your business.

Out of Date Information

A website isn’t a magic bullet you can fire and forget—it’s a commitment. Out-dated information on your website says to your audience that you don’t care—if you can’t be bothered to update a hyperlink or inform people that your hours of operation have changed, how can you be trusted to effectively do business? Dedicating time to your website shows engagement in being the best at what you do.

You spent the money to build a website, spend the time to maintain it.

So Now What?

You now know about a handful of the flaws that could sink your website, but that’s only part of the story. Best practices are great core principles, but your specific needs might require expert attention. Contacting professionals, like the Edmonton web design team at PixelNerd, can turn your “good enough” website into something that will really get customers talking.